West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1887-08-11
THE HEAVENS OPENED.
SERMON BY REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
What Our Departed Christian Friends
are Employed at in Paradise.

TEXT: "Notc e came TO pass IN the uir
tteth year, IN the fourth month, IA the mn
day Of the month, as t0dS among The cap
tsres by the rfuer Of Che6ar, that The heavens
tcere opened. Ezekiel l.. l.
Ezekiel with others, had been expatriated,
and while in foreign slavery was standing on
the banks of the royal canal which he and
other serfs had been condemned TO dig by the
order Of NebuchadneZZar-thi royal canal,
In the text, called the river of Chcbar; tho
nlustrious exile had visions of Heaven. In
deed, IL Is almost always so that tho brightest
visions Of heaven come not TO those who are
on mountain tops OF prosperity, but 20 some
John on desolate Patmos or 20 some Paul in
Mamertine dungeon, or TO some Ezekiel
standing on the banks of n ditch mo has been
compelled to dig-yea, 10 the weary, to tho
heart broken, to those whom sorrow has ban
ished.
The text is very particular to give us the
exact time Of the vision It was in the thr-
tieth year, and in the fourth month, and in
the fifth day Of tho month So you have had
visions of earth you shall never forget You
remember the year, you remember the month,
you remember the day, you remember the
hour Why may not we have some such
vision this morning, and 1t be in the sixth
month and in the fourth day OF the month";
The question is often silently asked, though
perhaps never audibly propounded: What
are our departed Christian friends doing
nowm The question is more easily answered
than you might perhaps suppose. Though
there has come no recent intelligence from
the heavenly city, and we seem dependent
upon the story of eighteen centuries ago, still
/ think we may from strongest inference do
eide what are the present occupations OF our
transferred kinsfok
After God has made "A nature he never
eradicates the chief characteristics Of its
temperament. YoH never knew man
phlegmatic in temperament to become san
Guine i'm temperament. You never knew
man sangiine ia temperament TO become
phlegmatic in temperament Conversion
plants new principles in the soul, but Paul
and John are just as different from each
other after conversion as they were different
from each other before conversion. III con-
version does not eradicate the prominent
characteristics OF the temperament neither
will death eradicate them.
You have, then, only by sum in subtrnc-
ton and sum I'm addition TO decide what are
the employments Of your departed friends in
che better world You are TO subtract from
them all earthly grossness and add all earthly
goodh ass and then you are TO come to the
conclusi,, N that they are doing now i'm heaven
what in thei.' best moments they did on earth.
The reason thai so many people never start Tor
heaven is because they could not STAND ~ II
they got there if it should turn out TO be the
rigid and formal place some people photo
graph it.
We like to come to church. but We would
not want to stay here till next Christmas:
We like to hear the Halleluiah Chorus, but
would not want to hear ii all the time Tor
fifty centuries. It might Toe on some great
occasion it would be possibly comfoFtable 10
pounds but il would be an affiiction TO wear
such a crown forever. In other words, we
run the descriptions OF Heaven into the
ground while we make that which was IN
tended as especial and celebFattve TO be the
exclusive employment OF Heaven. You
might as well, if asked TO describe the habits
of American society, describe a Decoration
Day, or Fourth of July, or an autumnhl
Thanksgiving as though IL were all the time
that way.
am not going 20 speculate in regard 10 the
future world, but i must by inevitable laws
OF inference and deduction and common
sense conclude that in Heaven we will be just
as different from each other as we are now
different, and hence, that there will be at
least many different employments in the
celestial world there are empoyments
here. Christ Is 10 be the great love, the
great joy, the great rapture, the great worship
OF Heaven but will that abolish employment
No more than loves on earth-pateTnal,
filial, fraternnl, conjugal love-abolish earthly
In the first place I remark that all those OF
our departed Christian friends who on earth
found great joy IN the fine arts are now in
dulging their tastes in the same d Tecti0n. On
earth they had their gladdest pleasures amid
pictle. y and statuary, and in the study of the
laws of light and shade and perspective
Have you any idea that that afiiuence OF
faculty at death collapsed and perishedl
Why So when there is more for them to look
at, and they have keener appreciation of the
beautiful, and they stand amid the very
looms where the sunsets and the rainbows
and the spring mornings are woven!
Are you so obtuse as TO suppose that because
the painter drops his easel and the sculptor
his chisel and the engraver his knife, that
therefore that taste, which he was enlarging
and intensifying for forty or fifty years Is
entirely obliterated3 These artists, or these
friends of art on earth worked in coarse
material and with imperfect brain and with
frai hand Now they have carried their art
into larger liberties and into wider ciFoum-
ference. They are nc their old business yet,
but without the fatigues, without the limita-
tions. without the hindTances Of the terres-
trial studio.
Raphael could now improve upon his mas
terpiece Of Michael the Archangel now
that he has seen him, and could improve upon
his masterpiece Of the Holy Family now that
he has visited them Michael Angelo could
better present the Last Judgment after he has
seen its fash and heard the rumbling batter
fng rams of its thunder Exquisite colors
here, graceful lines here, powerful chiaros-
euro here; but am persuaded that the gran
der studies and the brighter galleries are
higher up by the winding marble stairs
OF the Bepulchre, and that Turner, and HOl-
man, and Hunt and Rembrandt, and Titan,
and Paul Veronese, IL they exercised saving
faith in the Christ whom they portrayed up
on the canvas, are painters yet, but their
strength Of faculty multiplied Om-thousand
fold. The reason that God tool away their
eye and their hand, and their braiu was that
he might give them something more timber,
more Wieldly, more sklltuii more mulLipl-
tant
Do not. therefore, be melancholy among
tho tapestries, and the brio brio. and the
embrOidcres, and the water colOrs. and tho
works Of art which your departed friends
used % admire. DO not say: II am sorry
they had 10 leave all these things Rather
say: 81 am glad they have gone up 20 higher
artistic opportunity and appreciation Our
friends who fOgnd so much joy In the fine
arts on earth are now luXuriating I'm LOuvres
and LuyembOurgs celestial
j remg-k again. that all our departed
Christian. friends who in this world were
passi0uately fond Of music are still regaling
that taste in the world celestial The Bible
says 20 much about the music Of Heaven
that 10 cannot MI Boz hguroive. The Bible
over and over again speaks of the songs oi
Heaven. III Heaven bad 100 songs ~ its owu
q vast number NJ th0a Of earth would have
been taken up by the earthly emigraufs
Surely the Christian NJ death d0es not lose
his memory. Then there must be M llions Of
souls in Heaven who know "toronat ion %
and Antioch" and Mount Ii.gnh. and
sold Hundred The leader OF The eternal
orchestra need only once tap bis baton and
ell Heaven will he readY for the hallelujah.
Cannot the soul siugf How often we com
pllment some exquisite singer bY saying
There was 81 much sogi boo her music
in heaven 20 viii De- on soul until The body
after while c0mc- up in tue rcsufrGot iou,
and then there viii he au 8d i.tlonal heaven.
Cannot tie sOul heart if DO can hear then
DO can hear music. DO not therefore Def 10